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disciplinary levy $271.91
licence $102.22
certificate $51.11
where does the other $85.87 go?
What a f****ing rip off.
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First time fee:
$511.11 (includes licence, certificate and processing fee!!!!!)
$271.91 disciplinary levy
Total $783.02
Cost of exam @$300
total $1083.02
Of course there must be a HUGE amount of processing when you are already on the register as a licenced practitioner and they simply need to verify your exam result and change your status. You are wondering where it all goes - so is everyone else in the industry. Remember though that the PGDB have very nice offices on The Terrace in Wellington - one of the most expensive streets to have a business. But they tell us they must be close to their stakeholders - which last time I looked was all practitioners who fund this expensive castle of bureacracy.
And don't forget some of the processing fee might go towards running the expensive Board meeting where they all sit around and agree that you are a fit and proper person to become a certifier :o
Remember if you don't like it, put pen to paper and tell Mr Maurice Williamson, because one of the measurements of success of the output agreement he has with the PGDB is a reduction is complaints about them.
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Yep, youre right, I rang them today to complain about the $511 and was told its actually $783.02.
This is an absolute bloody rip off! How can it possibly cost that much to get some cards printed, change a few entries on a database, get a $3 certificate printed and posted out, and discipline other plumbers for not being registered? No wonder theyre not f****in registered, its too bloody expensive!
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Not to mention the $900 it cost me to do the night class to study for the exam. I think Im gonna have to put my hourly rate up this is getting ridiculous.
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Have you joined the PGDB Federation yet? They are hot on fees and have been blasting the PGDB about it since their inception. They currently have a case before the Regulation Review Committee and are waiting on a decision around fee charges and their legality. If you are not a member (it is FREE to join) then check the section on this website with the newsletters and send your info through to them. You'll be added to the data base and get their newsletter by email each week. Unfortunately with the PGDB and government it is all about the numbers you represent when you talk to them.
It is a HUGE barrier for young men and women wanting to get on in the trade and the initial costs for registration are, I am sure, stopping some people picking up their registration. As to wage increases, I can see where you are coming from, but at the moment most employers are finding it vey difficult out there to keep afloat themselves and are not entertaining wage increases, at least on any grand scale. I encourage my staff to put money aside in their tool account to meet the cost of registration. Apprentices need to start saving a few dollars a week from the day they sign up to have the cash ready when they want to register. After the first year it will cost you just for the yearly licence and the huge disciplinary levy.
Kind of leaves a bitter taste in your mouth though when you have done all this hard work!
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well hi guys , Ive just passed my registration and am about to apply for my license ,i was an apprentice struggling to pay my bills as it was and now i have to come up with $800 to pay to work for a year
well here's my thoughts take my skill and knowledge that i have worked hard to obtain, and move to Aussie and earn more money,and not have to pay a ransom to work and earn a living ,
option 2 ; quit work and go on the dole where i can have the board pay me my wages from their tax's
I ain't going to have the funds to pay for a licence, so if i cant work to pay for my licence,
cause i don't have a licence to work with ,
i am wondering if i can set up a automatic payment of 50cents a week any one try-ed that yet .
I love my job and don't want to do anything else but might not have any options if they don't drop these B@#$ fees
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Hi Plumbed Off
I am totally disgusted with this situation. I have just this minute emailed a complaint the Maurice Williamson about your plight. I see it as a barrier to entry into the industry. Under the Act the PGDB is not to impose barriers to entry into the industry and should be held accountable for it. Last year we laid a complaint with the Regulation Review Committee about the Board's fee structure but so far haven't got a result.
Can you please contact me at wal.gordon@xtra.co.nz. We can't guarantee a happy ending but will do everything we can to help you. If anyone else out there is in the same situation please contact us.
Here to support you
Kind Regards
Wal Gordon
Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Federation
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hi guys/Wal, these are the fantastic benefits of being in one of our trades. After studying hard/paying exorbitant fees over many years and passing very expensive exams you will now be a fully qualified tradesman only to have to pay more exorbitant licence fees,
Drain Layer
Qualified and experienced Drain Layer Mid to Senior Level
$18/hour |
This is an ad for drainlayer today on Trade-me, have a good weekend,cheers
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Have you joined the PGDB Federation yet?
Where do we join? Sorry if I missed the where bit :)
Yeh I am brassed off too - these fees are a joke, seriously looking to head overseas to Australia where the industry appears to be in much better shape than ours, better upskilling (from what I have seen) and where plumbers are paid what they are worth. NZ is a sad state of affairs >:(
Employers paying 18 an hour for a qualified drainlayer is downright ridiculous. Maybe we need a new thread discussing current hourly rates for employees - that would open another big can of worms - ;D
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Re: Have you joined the PGDB Federation yet?
Hi Fordy
You can join the Federation just by emailing Wal at wal.gordon@xtra.co.nz we just need your name and reg number and what licences you hold membership is free. If your also keen Wal is looking for area representatives to get the word out about our group and send feedback on what the members in your area think. :) :)
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Thanks Mr Aboutgas - i have emailed Wal and offered to help in any way
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Hi Guys,
I can personally vouch for Wal and the Federation, they have helped, put in the long hours and know what they are on about, all on my behalf, when others have turned their backs.
You can't moan about what the Board are doing to our industry, lives and families until you get involved and make a stand, it is all about numbers and those numbers voicing their discontent in a loud, clear and uniform voice. With a good basis in protocol and the system.
The Federation are the only voice out there for us that isn't up to their necks in it and part of the problem......if you don't support it now, you may loose it and then who can you turn to?? Come on guys get in touch with Wal and show your support.
On our own we are treated like rag arsed, lowly plumbers, but together we can become a force to be listened to. >:(
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I love it, your right mate it's time to hit these pricks where it hurts. Numbers. An army of tradesman standing up to say PGDB you are full of S*#T . We need to get the word out more. I'm in sleepy old wanganui and only just heard of the federation, havnt been on here in some time on the forums but im back to stay. If we have the majority of the trade on our side we cant lose and they have to listen.
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im like you fordy im rearly on the cusp of deciding wether to sit here in nz and be treated like some fu**wit who hasnt done a full apprentiship of FOUR YEARS TRANING and is going to need to spend thousands EACH AND EVERY SINGLE YEAR in fu**in stupid upskilling courses each and every damb year while im in practise...or do i fly the coup to aussie or uk where I WILL GET TREATED LIKE A BLOODY fully trained RESPECTED tradesman!...the plumbing industry does not move fast enough to warrant this yearly upskilling scam! and im so so F**KED OFF at this bloody corner the pgdb is pushing practionishners into...
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im like you fordy im rearly on the cusp of deciding wether to sit here in nz and be treated like some fu**wit who hasnt done a full apprentiship of FOUR YEARS TRANING and is going to need to spend thousands EACH AND EVERY SINGLE YEAR in fu**in stupid upskilling courses each and every damb year while im in practise...or do i fly the coup to aussie or uk where I WILL GET TREATED LIKE A BLOODY fully trained RESPECTED tradesman!...the plumbing industry does not move fast enough to warrant this yearly upskilling scam! and im so so F**KED OFF at this bloody corner the pgdb is pushing practionishners into...
you're not the only one...
the easy option is to move on - hell i'm contemplating the exact same
as has been said - if anything is to change then it will be done with numbers via the federation
the ones that stand to benefit are the last remaining to stand that stick it out
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Hey guys - while you are all sitting around contemplating whether to get on that big bird and head to Aussie - put pen to paper and sign the petition the Federation has proposed, and also get your wider family and workmates to sign too. This will at least be attempting to make some changes. That and keep putting pen to paper to the Minister, but be specific about your complaints. Cost of licencing is a huge one - and each time we get exam results it rears its head and a new wave of new qualified practitioners look at the costs properly. The shame is that we try and get our apprentices on board about this early on but until it hits them between the eyes and they have to fork out these costs they simply don't really care or perhaps understand. It is hard to believe the actual costs of getting licensed for the first time. Some of the costs that fall in this basket, and the ones that really put the price up - is the overseas tradesman getting assessed for their first time NZ licence. Otherwise for NZ trained and qualified people it should simply be a matter of an administrative function in swapping you from a trainee register to a licensed register - with some background checks with NZQA and the ITO - two to three hours max per person I would have thought with most being less if they have provided all their paperwork at the time of application.
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its a total rip off!!, but what happens whe you dont pay the $7 hundred and what ever within the first year of passing your exam? im trying to buy a house and i have a young family, i think i paid enough when I paid $5000 to do my apprientiship!!! CRAP!!! screw you pgdb!!!!
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hi guys, this is what will be the undoing of the board, young guys(tradesmen)coming through trying to balance the cost of living and eventually leaving the trade for work that is not dominated by overpaid administrators, cheers
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I agree Robbo - young guys put off coming in because the costs are too high, and older guys getting out because of the costs of CBL and CPD! That will just leave all the middle agers.
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whats the federation, ill sign it!!!, anything to make my life as a plumber a hell of alot easier suits me fine!!!!!!
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Roberto - if you go to the Section on the Forum entitled Fellow Practitioner you will see all the newsletters from the Federation and an email address on how to sign up. Alternatively visit their website www.pgdf.co.nz (http://www.pgdf.co.nz) and there is a link there to sign up as a member. If you are keen to help then there is also a section entitled Petition which has a sheet that can be printed off and you could collect signatures calling for a Royal Commission of Enquiry into the governance of the industry. Every signature will count.
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Wow!!
I am so glad that I saw this! I have sent an email to get involved in the Federation.
You know what really sucks?
Being a craftsman plumber from the US and moving here.
I got to start over as an apprentice level, fly to Wellington for a week to do a $3500 hands on examination, sit the registration exam, wait 18 months to sit the Craftsman and then fail it because what the hell was that?
Now, I have lived here 3 years and I am still no where near getting back to my Craftsman status.
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thanks jaxcat!!! have signed up!!!
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Hi Tex, been here since "96" managed to get all my tickets only to have the last 3 years robbed off me by small minded cowardly pin heads, take a look at my profile, its all about who you know, not what you know, and whose arse you want to pucker up to. My old boss got his ticket (full craftsman gasfitter) after ONE ORAL EXAM, not a plumber who was then given his gas, the idiot hadn't even sat an apprenticeship, he was selling gas!!!!!! :o
He messes with my work adds on appliances to my certs and gets off with a $ 10 000 fine after someone nearly gets killed, to this day no one has been properly asked about what happened at the property and the guy is kicking back retired.
I love this country but there is one cunt-tree that seems to keep producing tossers who totally mess it up for others.
The Federation is the best thing that has happened to NZ plumbing, full stop ( or "period" for you seppo's lol ;))